Local passenger levels incompetence charges against SKN Air Express!!
Spokesperson denies allegations…
By Stanford Conway
Editor-in-Chief, SKNVibes.com
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A female employee of telecommunications giant Cable and Wireless [C&W] is accusing SKN Air Express/Tours Inc. of incompetence and claims that the company’s reimbursement system is questionable.
The woman told SKNVibes that she had an agreement with SKN Air Express/Tours Inc. to fly her and 29 other employees of C&W from St. Kitts to Turks and Caicos to participate in activities arranged by that country’s Telephone Company Sports Club in Provinciales.
“I had made an arrangement with SKN Air Express to fly 30 employees of C&W, St. Kitts-Nevis Limited to Turks and Caicos for us to participate in sporting activities arranged by the Telephone Company Sports Club. The event took place at Provinciales over the Easter weekend and I paid the company EC$48 904, which is equivalent to U$18 000.
“The flight was scheduled to depart the RLB International Airport at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 20. At the Airport, we met with a 14-member contingent from Anguilla that was to travel with us to Turks and Caicos to participate in the sporting activities, but up to midnight we were still at the airport waiting for the charter,” she said.
The woman explained that the charter was organised between herself and the Ministry of Sports in Turks and Caicos, where athletes from that country would have flown to St. Kitts to participate in the 2008 CARIFTA Games. ~~Adz:Right~~
She further explained that the charter would have left Turks and Caicos early on that day for St. Kitts, fly to Barbados to transport athletes from that country back to St. Kitts thence to Turks and Caicos with her contingent and also that from Anguilla.
The woman claimed that after not seeing the aircraft at the estimated time of arrival, she tried contacting one of the senior employees of SKN Air Express but only got onto his voice mail. She was then given the numbers to the company’s office and at about 7:00 p.m. made contact with a female employee, who said the flight was cancelled and asked if that information was not conveyed to her.
“On hearing that, I had become increasingly despondent over the situation and decided to contact a member of our team who had arrived at Turks and Caicos on the previous day.
That member asked me to contact the Chief Executive of C&W in Turks and Caicos, Mr. Drexwell Seymour, who told me that the charter did not arrive to take the athletes to St. Kitts and the Ministry of Sports had made arrangement with another company. Mr. Seymour also said that he spoke with the Minister of Sports and had guaranteed our departure for Turks and Caicos,” she explained.
The employee noted that the new charter arrived at the RLB International Airport at about 12:15 a.m. on Friday, March 21 and touched down at Turks and Caicos at approximately 2:45 a.m. that said day.
She stated that when the contingent returned to the Federation on Tuesday, March 25, she contacted the said senior employee of SKN Air Express and demanded the return of the money paid for “a charter that left us stranded at the RLB Airport”.
“Apart from leaving us stranded at the airport, what annoyed me most is that there was no written apology from the company,” the employee said.
She however declared that she received some of the money in parts and is still being owed EC$19 106.88. “I contacted the senior employee of SKN Air Express and enquired about my refund. On March 25 I received a cheque for EC$10 000 and on April 1 I received another one for EC$11 000. I was given the royal run around to get more money out of that company. I spoke to a senior personnel who told me that another senior employee had the remaining money to give me.
“However, it was not until I contacted my lawyer who visited SKN Air Express’ office that a United States cheque of $3 238 was paid. Because of the system concerning the cashing of this cheque, I have to wait for a period of eight weeks before the money can be validated…and this would leave a balance of EC$19 106.88 owing to me.”
The woman claimed she is being discriminated because she was reliably informed that the Barbados contingent received its refund shortly after the incident and so did the group from Anguilla.
She also stated that the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis got involved in the incident and “maybe that is why they received all of their money. I also understand that the main reason for the non-arrival of the charter is because they did not have permission to land at the airport in Barbados, but all I am interested in at this time is my complete refund. Why is it that I have to be paid in parts when at the time of the arrangement I gave them what was required for the trip?” she said.
The C&W employee concluded that “SKN Air Express has proven to be grossly incompetent in providing reliable service to customers and the company’s reimbursement system is highly questionable”.
Speaking with SKNVibes, a spokesperson for SKN Air Express/Tours Inc. denied the incompetence charge and noted that the flight was cancelled by those who had made the charter arrangement in Turks and Caicos.
The spokesperson said the company had an agreement with a group in Turks and Caicos to fly the athletes from that country to St. Kitts and the round trip would have cost US$36 000. He pointed out that the group in Turks and Caicos had an additional arrangement, but with the C&W contingent in St. Kitts and Nevis, to share the cost equally.
This arrangement, he explained, was made known to SKN Air Express and a contract was signed between the complainant and his company to fly a 30-member contingent to Turk and Caicos, which would have defrayed the other half of the expenses incurred in acquiring the aircraft from a private airline.
“We did collect US$18 000 from the employee of C&W with the understanding that once those in Turks and Caicos honour the contract, her contingent would have boarded the same aircraft that brought the athletes to St. Kitts. However, although those in Turks and Caicos had two months to pay their part of the bargain, they did not do so until the afternoon of Thursday, March 20,” he said.
~~Adz:Left~~The spokesperson also said that the aircraft did not go to Turks and Caicos because the group had subsequently cancelled the flight, which caused SKN Air Services not to have fulfilled the arrangement made with the contingents from St. Kitts and Nevis and Anguilla, as well as the athletes from Barbados.
He confirmed that the person in Barbados, who had arranged the transaction, did receive all monies owed to them while those from Anguilla had to wait a little longer “because of problems with their addresses”.
“SKN Air Express is here to serve its customers to the best of its ability, and the company does not intend to create any problem…be it flight or finance. Therefore, we knew that we owed the complainant, but we have to wait until the airline from which the aircraft was chartered to reimburse us,” he added.
The spokesperson said that the complainant was informed of the procedure “but was abusive on a number of occasions when she called to enquire of her refund”.
When contacted by SKNVibes, the complainant denied being abusive and claimed the only reason for multiple calls to the office and executives of SKN Air Express was because of the manner in which company treated the incident.
The spokesperson further said the company paid her the amount she claimed to have received and the remaining EC$19 106.88 would be given to her when the airline fully reimburses his company.
“She will get the remainder of her money just as how I had personally travelled to Nevis on the Tuesday after cancellation of the flight to delivered a cheque of EC$10 000 and also on the following Wednesday to give her another cheque of $EC11 000,” the spokesperson explained.
“The company also paid her a US cheque valued $3 238 and we will give her the remainder in three weeks time when the airline fully reimburses us. We did explain to her that the company is obliged to fulfill its obligations to her and we have been doing so as we receive the reimbursement from the airline, which has been paying us in parts,” he added.
The spokesperson declared that SKN Air Express/Tours Inc. is a reliable and trustworthy company and should not be assessed by one person’s misperception. He also stated that the company is under new management and would be having tours from May 9-12 travelling from Miami to St. Kitts, Santo Domingo to St. Kitts, San Juan and St. Thomas to St. Kitts, and from Guyana to St. Kitts depending on the load factor.
